Any recommendations on dealing with dealership for bent fuel door?

I’ve driven vehicles for over 45 years, never lubricated a fuel door hinge, never had a fuel door bent like some of the ones I’ve seen posted on TW. And after only 4 years?

Easy explanation for why so many, it’s a poor design. I Know Toyota can do no wrong for some but this is a perfect example of a poor design.

 

Me either............. Until I read this thread.

 

My brother works at a dealership and says that all types of vehicles come in with bent fuel doors, not just Toyotas.

If your fuel cap has a string attaching it to the vehicle the string sometimes gets caught underneath the door. This bends it away from the truck and the next time you go to open the door it will scrape on your truck.

It also won't close right anymore and people get frustrated and try to close it and bend the already flimsy piece of metal more.

 

Tacoma fuel door must be rated for 200 opening and closings hence lube it

 

True I’ve seen that happen, not to me. Just seems to be a lot of posts here on that issue to me. Maybe turd gens? haha

 

all the doors take a beating over time

dont lube the hinges

spray clean/lube the locks

dont pay attention to the latches

they will get wonky

unless the OP has a paid extended warranty its a no go at the dealer

 

Guess this all depends on the climate that one's Taco (or any vehicle) has to endure.
Never had had issue with the hinge on my '06 TRD OR's fuel door. Of course, every few years I did lubricate the hinge.
However, after a few years the "string" that attaches to the cap to the door broke. Seems plastic just is not very durable.
The expectation that every moving component on a vehicle should last forever with zero maintenance on the part of the owner is unreasonable.
In my region (New England) deicing chemicals can do a number on moving connections. As a gas pump jockey in my early to late teens I experienced a wide variety of hidden/disguised fuel doors - a common one was behind the license plate. Those frequently had issues like broken springs or binding hinges. Other styles became almost impossible to open or close. God forbid anyone, including mechanics, ever thought to maintain the moving parts. 1957 Chevy comes to mind with its hinged door in the tail fin - saw many with broken springs.
Poor design? Not so much. Poor maintenance? No doubt in my mind.

 

I've lubricated the locks, fuel, and door hinge on my toyotas as far back as i remember, not to mention the tail gate lock, and latches....never had an issue. Idk if you can call it a poor design, or lack of maintenance.

 

I’ve worked on thousands of vehicles, only ones I can ever recall with seized up gas doors were Toyota and scions

 

Some good points, but a lot of 3rd gen reporting bent fuel doors. If a fuel door hinge can’t take 200 or less opening and closings (at say 50 times per year) without a lube then I call that a poor design. Granted as others have posted could be people getting the plastic cap string trapped as they close the door but it sure does seem to be happening too often here to just be human error.

 

I think it's like a lot of the other "issues" we hear about Tacomas on here. It's an enthusiast's website so we are very particular and care about our vehicles and their function. Something doesn't work right? We post about it and collectively figure out a fix (and bitch about it!). Also remember that for every "something is wrong with my truck" post, there are hundreds of thousands of Tacomas that are working fine. If we all posted every day saying "day 1874 of Tacoma ownership, vehicle continues to operate normally" we'd never see the "my truck broke" posts.

Name another vehicle specific enthusiast's website and I'm sure you'll see something similar.

 

buy another door

rattle can or carbon overlay

maybe a photo o Ur best gf

clear coat then boogie ....................

 

Really we have no idea if those hundreds of thousands of Tacoma owners who aren’t on TW have issues or not. And I know Tacoma’s aren’t the only ones with those issues.
In any case I decided to take a look at the fuel door. It appears to me that the design of the gas cap cord when oriented up could allow it to be caught on the door hinge point as you close it, jamming it against the metal as show in the pics below. Being right at the hinge point the door would act as a fulcrum placing a lot of pressure at the hinge with the cord jammed in there and possibly damage the hinge/door joint.



So it’s best to ensure the cord is oriented down to ensure it’s not trapped at the hinge point.

A better design would take human factors into account and not connect the cord to the door at all but attache it to the bunghole on the right side. Accidentally trapping the cord on the right side of the door would prevent it from closing but wouldn’t put near as much pressure at the hinge joint.
Another option is if it’s to be attached at the door, provide a guide or fix it in place to ensure the cord is always oriented down. That’s the engineer in me talking though.

 

I agree.

Since I know it's a potentially flawed design I take the extra second when closing my gas door to make sure the wire isn't in the way.

 

What about the glove box hinge ? Better go get it .

 

Given the nature of some, your likely right. Their not capable of even refueling their own truck.

 

Here for the gf pics

 

Better include me in that haha. Over the thousands of times i’ve fueled up Ive almost caught the gas cap cord on the door when in a hurry a few times , stopped when I felt resistance. With where the cord is on my Taco though due to the fulcrum action not sure you would feel much.

 

I have always struggled with the placement of the gas cap tether when closing the fuel door. It has wreaked havoc on my anal retentiveness. I have therefore come up with the gas cap tether relocation mod. I did have to use a drum sander on a Dremel to slightly reduce the radius of the retainer on the end of the plug that goes through the hole because the hole is slightly smaller than the one on the door. I did this on both of my Tacoma's with no problem.

If you decide to do this just be careful while removing the end that is in the fuel door. Pulling outward and twist while doing so seemed to be the trick for me.

 

Hire this man Toyota!!
Bro this is an awesome fix.